June E-Bulletin - MMHA's electronic newsletter

This publication aims to keep you intouch with all the latest news and information surrounding multicultural mental health matters. If you wish to have your event or latest resource featured in the next edition, please email details to: admin@mmha.org.au

WHAT'S NEW?

1. Promoting refugees’ participation in sport: The NSW Government has allocated $100,000 to the Refugee Council of Australia to explore how sport can assist newly arrived refugees adjust to life in Australia. The Government says this partnership aims to continue promoting sport as a bridge between Australians of all backgrounds. Half the funding will go towards a research project to examine how sporting organisations can encourage the involvement of newly arrived refugees and how sport can play a greater role in assisting refugee settlement in NSW. The other half of the funding will form a small grants program to encourage refugee participation in sport and volunteering. “Sport can play a vital role in helping new arrivals in Australia to make valuable social connections and learn about Australian culture, assisting their settlement in their adopted country,” the NSW Minister for Sport and Recreation, Graham West, said. The Refugee Council has spent nearly 30 years working with local organisations around Australia to promote more effective settlement for newly arrived refugees and humanitarian migrants.

2. Communicating with CALD families: MMHA Consortium member and carer, Kaliope Paxinos, is coordinating a national project investigating the level of involvement carers have in mental health treatment plans. Kaliope's project aims to explore how mental health services clinicians interpret the policy as stated in the National Mental Health Plan 2002-2008. While the policy stipulates that services should work collaboratively and in partnership with all parties such as clinicians, consumers and family/carers, Kaliope questions why this partnership is not working effectively. As a carer, who has worked with many families from various cultural backgrounds, Kaliope says she has identified a huge gap in the way some clinicians communicate with carers/families. Therefore, Kaliope is keen to speak to as many families from CALD backgrounds from across the country to learn about their experiences. If you wish to assist Kaliope with her project - please contact MMHA directly - 02 9840 3333 or email: admin@mmha.org.au

Kaliope will be presenting the ideas behind her project at a public forum in Melbourne on Wednesday 25 June. Organised by the Inner South Transcultural Network, Kaliope will talk about her personal experiences and observations as a carer for more than 20 years. Her paper titled: "Communicating with Families" will focus on all Australian families with a main emphasis on CALD carer/families. Kaliope will also highlight effective and non-effective ways of communicating between family members, consumers and service providers to facilitate the recovery process.

Date: Wednesday 25 June 2008

Time: 3.30pm - 5pm

Venue: Prahran Mission Cafe-Ground Floor

211 Chapel St. Prahran

RSVP: Nadine 03 96929543 - nadine@prahranmission.org.au

3. Parliamentary Inquiry into Carer needs: MMHA is urging CALD carers of people living with a mental illness to make a submission to a new parliamentary inquiry into carer needs. The Federal Government has established the inquiry to determine how to better meet the needs of carers who look after those with chronic illness, disabilities or frailty. The inquiry has been established to determine social and economic barriers for carers and practical support measures. Federal MP, Annette Ellis, will chair the inquiry.  MMHA is urging carers from CALD backgrounds and carer organisations to make written submissions to the inquiry to ensure the issues affecting mental health carers from CALD backgrounds are heard.

If you wish to make a submission contact the House of Representatives Family and Community Committee - 02 6277 4372 or email: fchy.reps@aph.gov.au

Written submissions to the inquiry addressing the terms of reference must be made by 4 July 2008.  The committee is due to report back to government in early 2009.

4. $50 million boost into mental health: The Rudd Labor Government has announced injecting $50 million into strengthening mental health services, including $20 million to help prevent suicide. The Government says that these measures will help ensure that people coping with mental illness can get the care they need. The funding includes:

Over $20 million towards better targeting the National Suicide Prevention Strategy to capture key areas and groups at highest risk of suicide such as the Indigenous and new emerging communities.

Nearly $6 million in grants of up to $40,000 to help over 200 community-based mental health organisations manage the demand for their services. MMHA is pleased to see some of these funds have been allocated to various torture and trauma services across the country and other ethno-specific organisations such Mission of Hope, the Migrant Resource Centre in Townsville, the South Australian chapter of the Vietnamese Community in Australia, the Australian Turkish Association in Victoria and the Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Centre in Wester Australia.

The Rudd government has also committed nearly $2 million towards a mobile tracker system to help people manage their mental health through mobile phones and the Internet as well as over $1.5 million towards an online program to help manage anxiety. In addition to this, close to $5 million will go towards supporting the KidsMatter program, which aims to encourage mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention activities in primary schools and early childhood settings – while over $12 million has been allocated to MindMatters to promote mental health in secondary schools.

5. Once Bitten: Circe Films and Caravan Productions in association with SBS Television (Australia), Maori Television Services (New Zealand), Film Finance Corporation and New Zealand On Air are looking for people to tell their stories in a new documentary series titled: Once Bitten. This two-part series will tell the personal and intimate stories of couples as they negotiate the social, cultural and familial complexities of love the second-time around. Those behind the co-production between New Zealand and Australia say it will be a significant exploration of a social phenomenon that reveals the issues and realities of relationships and family life today through a window of culture. The producers want to hear from couples and families in a second or more-time round relationship, who believe that sharing their story – the joys, the complications, the pitfalls, the lessons learned – will give others an insight into family life today. Filming starts in August 2008. If you’re interested – please email - Circe Films: circe_me@bigpond.net.au or call 03 9525 8486.

6. Positive Living in Aged Care Awards: Multicultural Mental Health Australia is encouraging aged care service providers in NSW that are helping people from non-English speaking backgrounds to enter the Positive Living in Aged Care Awards. These awards aim to recognise residential aged care providers in NSW who are implementing strategies to promote a positive approach to the prevention and management of mental health. It’s understood that older people living in residential aged care facilities are susceptible to mental health conditions and associated challenging behaviours. Studies also show that there is under-diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions in this group and that even when diagnosed, there is under-utilisation of specialist mental health services and a lack of awareness of appropriate sources from which to access non-pharmacological treatment. Therefore these awards aim to promote the sharing of positive strategies to improve the quality of life and mental wellbeing of residents in residential aged care facilities. One of the award categories targets the mental health and wellbeing of residents with special needs such as people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. All applications must be received by close of business 30 June 2008. The application package, including details on the criteria for each category, is available on the ACS NSW & ACT website at http://www.agedservices.asn.au and ACAA-NSW website at http://www.acaansw.com.au.

7. Call for Arabic-speaking health professionals to participate in research for FECCA’s Multicultural Quality Use of Medicines (MCQUM) project: The Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA) is working in partnership with the National Prescribing Service (NPS) to promote the safe use of medicines to culturally and linguistically diverse Australians. The MCQUM team is currently undertaking interviews with people who work with Arabic-speaking communities, including health and community service providers. It’s seeking bilingual health professionals (doctors, pharmacists, and nurses) working with Arabic-speaking clients who are able to undertake an interview regarding issues around the safe and effective use of medicines amongst Australians from Arabic-speaking communities. This research aims to identify barriers and enablers to medicine safety within Arabic-speaking communities; explore appropriate models for providing health information about the safe and wise use of medicines; and identify commonalities and/or differences between and within Arabic-speaking communities in relation to the safe use of medicines. The research findings will be used to inform future health promotion strategies targeting Arabic-speaking Australians. If you are a health professional and able to be interviewed, or are interested in acquiring more information about this research, please contact Corinne Dobson at FECCA on 02 6282 5755, or via email mcqum2@fecca.org.au.

PUBLICATIONS/RESOURCES:

1. Cross-Cultural Resource for Health Practitioners working with CALD Clients: Refugees as Survivors - New Zealand (RASNZ) is the lead mental health agency for refugees entering New Zealand. RASNZ has produced a desktop guide used with a CD-Rom that has been designed for health practitioners to assist them in delivering high quality, culturally appropriate mental health services that include assessment, treatment and follow-up which addresses pre and post migration stress, and assist refugees with their healing from experiencing trauma or torture. This resource also aims to deliver quality, culturally fitting health promotion, health education and primary prevention services to address key needs of safety and wellbeing. It covers 14 cultures including – Afghan, Burmese, Burundian, Cambodian, Chinese, Ethiopian, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Korean, Laotian, Somali, Sudanese and Vietnamese. The desktop guide contains a cross-cultural pre-interview checklist, interview questions and guidelines for working with interpreters. The section on each culture contains greetings and communication tips and guidelines for practitioners working with each culture. The CD-Rom offers a more comprehensive guide about the material in the desktop along with comparative tables as well as general sections on Asian, Eastern Mediterranean and African cultures and video and audio clips of greetings in each language. This resource may be purchased by emailing: admin@rasnz.co.nz. Please visit: http://www.iimhl.com/IIMHLUpdates/20080530c.pdf

2. Community Relations Crisis Toolkit: The Victorian Multicultural Commission, in partnership with Multicultural Affairs Queensland, supported a research project into the impact of global crisis events on community relations in multicultural Australia. This project also explored how communities and governments respond to such events. A toolkit of resources and strategies was also developed through this project. The Community Relations Toolkit has been designed to assist communities build capacity and develop a response model to manage the impact of any crisis on community relations in Australia. This resource will assist CALD communities plan for action, mobilise resources, gather information, communicate with the media, and undertake crisis management consultations and training workshops. This publication is available at: http://http://www.multicultural.vic.gov.au/web24/vmc.nsf/headingpagesdisplay/publicationscommunity+relations+crisis+toolkit

3. Co-Exist NSW consumer information postcards: Co-Exist NSW is the first service in NSW to assist people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities and their families living with comorbidity and who may have found it difficult in the past to access mainstream services due to language and cultural barriers. Comorbidity describes the experience of living with two or more mental health conditions, or a mental health condition and a substance abuse or problem gambling condition. To spread the message about the service to CALD communities, consumer postcards have been translated into 31 languages such as Vietnamese, Arabic, Burmese, Farsi, Singhalese, Hindi, Lao and Greek. The cards contain information about the service, how it can assist you and your family and how to contact the team for assistance. For further enquiries or to order copies of these multilingual postcards, please contact Co-Exist NSW on 02 8838 2120 or 02 9840 3329.

4. Predictors of Depression Stigma by Kathleen M Griffiths, Helen Christensen and Anthony F Jorm. BMC Psychiatry 2008, 8:25: This study investigated and compared the predictors of personal and perceived stigma associated with depression. The researchers surveyed 3 samples to investigate the predictors: a national sample of 1,001 Australian adults; a local community sample of 5,572 residents of the Australian Capital Territory and Queanbeyan aged 18 to 50 years; and a psychologically distressed subset of the latter sample – 487 people. Potential predictors included demographic variables (age, gender, education, country of birth, remoteness of residence), psychological distress, awareness of Australia's national depression initiative beyondblue, depression literacy and level of exposure to depression. The findings suggested that in addition to delivering broad-based programs to reduce personal stigma, there may be value in targeting and tailoring programs to reduce personal stigma among men, older people, and those with lower educational levels and those born overseas. Consideration should also be given to developing destigmatisation programs for people with symptoms suggestive of psychological distress and to improving depression literacy. The study also found that perceived stigma is very high both in people with depression and the general public and may impact on help seeking. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/8/25

5. The Diabetes: What You Need to Know books by Diabetes Australia – NSW: In a new move to help non-English speaking communities understand diabetes, Diabetes Australia-NSW has produced a series of books containing comprehensive, easy-to-understand information that is available in five different languages. The Diabetes: What You Need to Know series is available in Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Greek and Italian versions and covers a wide range of diabetes-related topics, such as risk factors, prevention, complications and management. All books contain an English translation. The aim of the books is to educate people with a non-English speaking background about the best ways of managing diabetes. The Diabetes: What You Need to Know books are available for $10 each plus postage. Money raised from the books will go to producing further books in more languages. To order copies please call 1300 136 588 or email orders@diabetesnsw.com.au

EVENTS/TRAINING:

1. Refugee Week:  'A Place to Call Home': This year’s World Refugee Day on June 20 is globally promoting the theme of “refugee protection”. Australia’s Refugee Week theme: “A Place to Call Home” is being celebrated this week with a number of key events across the country including:

ACT: The presentation of Refugee Scholarships hosted by Canberra Refugee Support – this award ceremony aims to recognise meritorious performance and encourage and support outstanding refugee students in the pursuit of their personal development goals.
Venue: ACT Legislative Assembly Main Reception Room
Time/Date: 9.15am – 19 June
Contact: Geoff McPherson 0408 283849 or Fiona Muir 02 6205 4383

NSW: 'A Place to Call Home' art exhibition hosted by St. George Regional Museum – this exhibition features a selection of pieces produced during an interactive art workshop for adults and children under the supervision of a professional artist.
Venue: St George Regional Museum - 14 MacMahon St, Hurstville 2220;
Time/Date: Exhibition opening: 19th June 4.30pm
Contact: Jessica Allen 02 9330 6444 or jallen@hurstville.nsw.gov.au

Refugee Week 2008 in Orange - Orange City Council, Migrant Support Service, Multicultural Mothers Morning Group and TAFE NSW ESOL class are hosting this event. The day will feature presentations by local community members and Australian Red Cross; banners, stories from local people who have experienced life as a refugee written during their TAFE ESOL classes; dance, drama and song from local schools.
Venue: Orange Civic Forum, Byng Street, Orange
Time/Date: 1145 am –19 June
Contact: Anni Gallagher 02 6393 9625 or email: agallagher@orange.nsw.gov.au

Dario Palermo Refugee Art Exhibition, The Australian Refugee Film Festival and Humanitarian Awards Opening - hosted by the NSW service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Taruma Survivors (STARTTS). This exhibition captures the work of refugee artists and issues that affect refugees in Australian and around the world. The 2008 NSW Refugee Humanitarian Awards will be presented as part of this event.
Venue: Uniting Church, 264 Pitt Street, Sydney
Time/Date: 6-9 pm – 19 June
Contact: Gary Taylor - president@friendsofstartts.org or Rebecca Hinchey 02 9794 1966 or rebecca.hinchey@swsahs.nsw.gov.au

Darwin –NT: ‘World Refugee Day and the Fringe @ Malak’ - hosted by Melaleuca Refugee Centre and Partners this events features a citizenship ceremony; cultural performances, films, displays and food
Venue: Malak Shopping Centre, Darwin
Time/date: 3pm-5pm – 21 June

Contact: Nic Borgese/ Ben Garcia 08 8985 3311 or email:  nic.borgese@melaleuca.org.au

Brisbane – QLD: 'World Refugee Day Community Sporting and Cultural Festival' - hosted by Volunteer Refugee Tutoring and Community Support (“VoRTCS”) in partnership with Multicultural Affairs Queensland and the Brisbane City Council. This festival includes a soccer tournament comprising teams representing different refugee communities, two stages of cultural performances, food stalls run by refugee community members, rides, a jumping castle, a volleyball tournament, art workshops, dance workshops, art and craft stalls and drumming workshops.

Venue: Annerley Soccer Fields, Juliette St/Ridge Street, Annerley, Brisbane

Time/date: 10am–4pm – 22 June
Contact: Elise Koppe 07 3010 1077 or email: worldrefugeeday@refugeetutoring.org

Tasmania: Memories, knowledge and Skills Exhibition: hosted by the Moonah Arts Centre and the Migrant Resource Centre (Southern Tasmania) Inc. This exhibition features the work of Tasmania’s refugee communities and aims to celebrate the handmade and the value of traditional skills as cultural memory. Objects of all kinds and functions will be featured from domestic utility items to musical instruments, decorative items and textiles.

Venue: Moonah Arts Centre, 65 Hopkins Street, Moonah.

Time/date: Monday to Friday: 12:30pm to 5pm until 25 June 2008.

Contact: 03 6214 7633 or the Migrant Resource Centre (Southern Tasmania) Inc - 03 6221 0999

 For a full list of events across the country – please visit: http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/newsevents/refugeeweek.html

2. Launch of the Sharing our Stories, Sharing our Strengths report: The Hon Barbara Perry Minister for Juvenile Justice, Minister for Western Sydney, NSW Minister Assisting the Premier on Citizenship is launching the report from the refugee conference: Sharing our Stories, Sharing our Strengths. The report will be launched on Thursday 26 June 2008, which is also the United Nations Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The report, compiled by the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS), is an anthology of stories of survivors that also contains a host of recommendations about what refugee community groups, service providers, government and media can do to help refugees overcome adversity and settle successfully in Australia. Speakers include lawyer and refugee from Vietnam, Than Nguyen, and Ethnic Community Liaison Officer and refugee from Sudan, Ajak Ajang. The Minister will be launching the report on Thursday 26 June at 3.30 pm in the Theatrette at NSW Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney. For more information please call - 02 9794 1900.

3. Launch of the Vietnamese Community in Sydney Resource Book: This new resource has been produced to help service providers who work with people from Vietnamese backgrounds. The NSW Minister for Health, the Hon. Reba Meagher, will be launching the publication on Thursday 27 June 2008 between 1130am - 2pm at the Vietnamese Refugees Community and Cultural Centre - 6 - 8 Bibby Place, Bonnyrigg, NSW.  For more information or to RSVP contact Tiep Nguyen or Gary Cachia on 02 9794 1900.

4. Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA) Carers Engagement Project: The Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA) is continuing to roll out its Carers Engagement Project with workshops around the country. The workshops are designed to assist family members and carers of a person living with a mental illness further develop their coping and management skills. There will be specific workshops for carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds including:

SYDNEY:

Tues 1 July – CALD

Wed 2 July – CALD

MT ANNAN, NSW:

Tues 15 July – CALD

PERTH:

Sat 23 August – CALD

GEELONG, VIC:

Tues 2 September - CALD

The Carers Engagement Project aims to record the real life experiences of mental health carers, encourage carers to identify their current and future information needs and  provide a method of ongoing monitoring of carers’ experiences by the MHCA Project. The MHCA will use the experiences and information discussed at the workshops to advocate for better outcomes for mental health carers through the development of an annual snapshot of carers’ experiences. For more information  about this project please call contact Linda Rosie - 02 6285 3100 or email:

linda.rosie@MHCA.org.au or visit: http://www.mhca.org.au  

5. Cross-cultural mental health care for GPs: Do you work with GPs? If so, the NSW Transcultural Mental Health Centre and the NSW Institute of Psychiatry is offering a new unit of study on cross-cultural mental health care for GPs. The unit, Crosscultural Mental Health Care in General Practice, runs from July 28, 2008 and aims to improve the skills, knowledge and confidence of GPs working with patients with mental health problems from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. The unit covers a variety of topics including: assessment and culture, cross-cultural formulation, working with refugees and asylum seekers, ethno-psychopharmacology and issues in crosscultural counselling. It is a distance education unit, and can be taken as a stand- alone subject, or as an elective for a Certificate, Diploma or Masters of Mental Health Studies (General Practice). The full course fee is $1370, but “early birds’ will only need to pay $1090. Scholarships for GPs practising anywhere in Australia are offered by the NSW Transcultural Mental Health Centre (TMHC) or Diversity Health Institute. Applications for scholarships close July 11, 2008. For further information contact Jennifer Herron at the TMHC on 02 9840 3800 Jennifer_Herron@wsahs.nsw.gov.au or Natalie Taig at the Institute of Psychiatry on 02 9840 3833.

6. Anti-Poverty Week: 12 – 18 October 2008: focuses on poverty around the world, especially in the poorest countries, but also in wealthier countries such as Australia. Its main aims are to strengthen public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship around the world and within Australia. It also aims to encourage research, discussion and action to address these problems, including action by individuals, communities, organisations and governments. The National Facilitating Group for Anti-Poverty Week includes representatives from more than 20 major national organisations and social welfare services which are actively involved in efforts to reduce poverty and hardship in Australia and overseas. They are encouraging other organisations to host an event to mark Anti-Poverty Week and also add details about the event onto their website: www.antipovertyweek.org.au

CONFERENCES:

1. International ‘Unity in Diversity’ Conference - People, the Workforce & the Future of Australia. Jupiters Townsville Hotel & Casino, Queensland. 13-16 August 2008. This conference aims to explore global trends in immigration, the workforce and creating enhanced community cohesion. Drawing together an expert panel, the conference will address the need for collaboration, communication and cooperation across cultural, religious and ideological barriers. The conference program will feature national keynote speakers, panel discussions, cross-cultural training, exhibition displays, as well as art and cultural performances. Organisers of this event advise that it’s suitable to business leaders and multicultural stakeholders and is also aimed at employees from government, education, community, religious, multicultural and migrant settlement sectors.

For more details please call 07 4772 4800 - http://www.culturalfest.org

2. World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Melbourne, Australia. 10 –12 September 2008: VicHealth is hosting this event, which is organised by the World Federation for Mental Health, the Clifford Beers Foundation, the Mental Health Program of the Carter Center, Auseinet and supported by the Global Consortium for Prevention and Promotion in Mental Health (GCAPP). It aims to explore new ways that individuals and organisations, from a range of sectors, can promote mental health and prevent mental illness. Organisers hope to attract practitioners, researchers and policy makers from a broad range of sectors, including those within education, justice, planning, the arts, technology and human rights, to attend this conference. It is envisaged this will provide delegates with examples of good practice across different sectors, and will highlight the local, regional and international partnerships that can be created to promote mental health and prevent mental illness. For further information contact please call - 03 9667 1333 or visit: http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/conference2008

3. TheMHS 18th Annual Conference. Auckland Convention Centre, New Zealand. 2 - 5 September 2008: Organisers of this event are aiming to invite consumers, indigenous people, refugee/new immigrant groups; families/carers, clinicians, community support workers, researchers, health promoters, primary healthcare workers, academics, community agency, public or private mental health services to share innovations in the mental health workforce. Steven Onken from the Social Science Research Institute of University of Hawai‘i at Manoa is one of the keynote speakers who will focus on innovative research to support an emerging evidence base for service use, indigenous and cultural approaches to mental health well-being and recovery. This conference will also aim to explore a series of questions such as: How can we model the change we want? How can we be effective change agents? What tools, techniques and methods support workforce change and innovation? Whether innovative changes are societal, community, service, group or individual. This conference invites people to share how to work towards an inspired and inspiring mental health workforce. Download details on registration, advertising, satchel inserts and booth displays: http://www.themhs.org/p.aspx?n=GHOUG-FSNSC-QELGP-OEFBT-ANEYV

4. 15th Australasian Conference on Traumatic Stress (ACOTS) - Traumatic Stress: Challenges for the Coming Decade: Bayview Eden, Melbourne, Australia. 11 -13 September 2008: This conference aims to bring together a range of perspectives on trauma to provide a stimulating exchange of ideas. Keynote speakers include Joy Osofsky, Professor of Paediatrics and Psychiatry at the Louisiana State University’s Health Sciences Centre, New Orleans, USA and Australia’s Professor Gordon Parker from the Black Dog Institute. The organisers are emphasising clinical practice by scheduling a skills based “mini-workshop” in each of the concurrent paper sessions. The conference will bring together key advances in research and treatment of posttraumatic stress, and provide a forum for a broad range of people interested in trauma, including practitioners, researchers, consumers, service developers and policy makers. Early bird registration closes on 8 August 2008. For further details please visit: http://www.astss.org.au

5. The 4Rs - Rights, Reconciliation, Respect, Responsibility - International Conference: 30 September - 3 October 2008. University of Technology Sydney: The conference aims to discuss and debate Australia's future as a cosmopolitan civil society. Over 100 speakers and up to 400 delegates will be invited to explore opportunities for building a more inclusive society through discussions on human rights, Indigenous reconciliation, inter-cultural relations and citizenship in a globalizing world. This conference will host a number of panel discussions focusing on younger people and their perspectives on future directions and encourage interaction among academics, educators and students with time for Q&A and discussion. Key panels will be recorded for pod cast. Leading international participants include American sociologist, Professor Saskia Sasson; Prof Tariq Modood and European expert on cultural diversity policies (by satellite) and civil rights advocate, Geoffrey Robertson QC. Australian speakers include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma; ACTU President, Sharon Burrows and Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services, Laurie Ferguson. Early bird registrations close 30 June. For further details please visit : http://www.the4rsconference.org

6. Truth, Justice & Reparation – rebuilding health & dignity after trauma & human rights violations. Lima, Peru. 15-18 October 2008: The International Society for Health and Human Rights (ISHHR) is hosting this event. ISHHR was established to share knowledge, skills, experiences and concerns regarding the impact of persecution, torture and other human rights violations. ISHHR brings together professionals and people affected by trauma and human rights abuses from all over the world every few years for a major conference to combat these effects. This conference will continue exploring these issues and organisers are hoping a mix of participants will attend and share knowledge between first world countries and affected regions. This conference also aims to give those who have suffered trauma and human rights abuses the opportunity to share solutions and educate the rest of the world about the problems they face. Keynote speakers include: Boris Drožđek, MD, MA - psychiatrist and medical director at Psychotrauma Centrum Zuid Nederland, the Netherlands: whom specialises in the treatment of survivors of political and war violence; and Dr Eileen Pittaway – Director of the Centre for Refugee Research at the University of New South Wales. The conference is translated live into Spanish and English. Afterwards conference materials will be converted into a free educational resource for attendees and anyone, anywhere to use, also translated into Spanish and English (other languages may follow). To register or for more information please visit: http://www.ISHHRconference.com

7. The 2nd Australasian Mental Health & Psychosocial Disaster Conference. Sebel & Citigate King George Square Hotel, Brisbane. 21-23 October 2008: MMHA Consortium Partner, Professor Beverley Raphael, Professor Population Mental Health and Disasters at the University of Western Sydney, is a keynote speaker at this conference. Some of the topics that will be discussed include: the role of the media and public communications in minimising disaster stress, psychosocial impacts in Hurricane Katrina and lessons for Australia's disaster managers, integration of mental health in large operations, selecting and using crisis counselling as well as identifying special needs groups. The conference is aimed at general emergency management, psychosocial and mental health practitioners. For further information, program details and registrations visit – http://www.disasters-psychosocial.org.au

8. National Refugee Primary Health Care Conference: Caring Nationally. Mater Health Services, Brisbane. 27-28 November 2008: This conference is hosted by the Queensland Integrated Refugee Community Health Clinic (QIRCH). Following on from the QIRCH’s last conference in October 2004, this national conference aims to inform, educate, stimulate debate, network, inspire, and provide peer support for those healthcare practitioners and other service providers working with people from a refugee background in the primary health care context. The key conference themes are: how to promote and improve practitioner education about refugee healthcare, how to best promote awareness within the health sector on refugee healthcare and how to improve health outcomes for patients from a refugee background. Organisers of this event are now calling for abstracts for papers or workshops addressing one or more of the conference themes. Abstract submissions close 31 May 2008. For further details please contact the Clinic Manager at the Queensland Integrated Refugee Community Health Clinic, Claire Brolan - 07 3163 2880 or email: Claire.brolan@mater.org.au or visit http://www.ncmpcp.org.au/news/items/2008/03/201907-upload-00001.pdf

WHAT’S ONLINE:

1. MMHA's Northern Territory forum/consultations now online: On 23 May 2008 Multicultural Mental Health Australia conducted a one-day consultation forum in Darwin on mental health issues for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in the Northern Territory. Over 70 people attended the workshop and forum including health and mental health service providers, people from multicultural and ethno-specific agencies; and people from a range of community and educational services. The event featured a workshop titled: Cultural and Language Issues in Mental Health conducted by the State Liaison & Policy Coordinator from the Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre, Greg Turner, the forum also included several speakers from the Northern Territory and discussion groups on relevant issues. The strength of interest in the consultation forum highlighted that mental health is a significant issue in the NT. The major issues identified and recommendations made included: the importance of greater networking and the need for a coordinating body/organisation for multicultural mental health issues in Darwin; the lack of cultural competency among mental health service providers and calls for more training on multicultural mental health/cultural competency issues; the need for greater involvement of consumers; identifying the needs of carers and families from CALD backgrounds and developing community awareness training and education on mental health issues and services with CALD communities, and strategies to reduce stigma. MMHA has uploaded Mr Turner’s workshops on our website. One focuses on cultural and language issues in mental health, while the other aims to provide mental health and community workers with a better understanding of how to work effectively with mental health interpreters. These can be found at: http://www.mmha.org.au/information/news-items/onsite-mental-health-interpreting-a-workshop-for-professional-interpreters-from-mmha-s-nt-forum/view

2. Worldwide Visions on mental health: The Queensland Alliance has announced its ‘Visions’ interviews are now available online. Visions is a collection of 13 interviews with global leaders in the consumer/carer led movement in mental health and has previously been compiled into a DVD set. The people featured have persevered in many different ways in many different countries to improve mental health systems. They include Mary Nettle - a consumer consultant and the Chair of the European Network of (ex) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, Gábor Gombos – consumer and human rights activist from Hungary; Iris Hölling - Co-Founder of Runaway House in Berlin and Elena Chavez - member of the WNUSP and the founder of ALAMO, a support group in Perú. This project aims to improve the outcomes for those who have experienced psychological and mental distress. See their stories at: http://www.vimeo.com/646348 or order a copy of the Visions DVD from the Queensland Alliance – admin@qldalliance.org.au

3. Online thesis research: "Hope, recovery & schizophrenia: The experience of caring and coping”: Psychology student at Murdoch University in Western Australia, Samantha Bamforth, is doing her honours on how the role of supporting a loved one living with schizophrenia affects the wellbeing of carers/family. Samantha says she has a deep understanding of the challenges faced when supporting a person with schizophrenia at home as she also has an immediate family member who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Therefore, Samantha is trying to recruit carers of people living with schizophrenia for her thesis research project. Samantha is aiming to explore the potential stresses experienced by family members of people diagnosed with schizophrenia and is seeking volunteers who are immediate family members (18+) who are related by marriage or blood to the consumer (eg. mother, partner, son, sister). A key requirement of her work is that the family member had to have had a close relationship with the individual before they began displaying symptoms of their illness or before they were diagnosed. Samantha is now inviting carers to fill out an online questionnaire that may take up to 20 minutes. If you wish to participate – please log onto: http://www.tlc.murdoch.edu.au/survey/hope.html or please contact Samantha for a hardcopy version of the survey -  0434 371 021 or email: 30338549@student.murdoch.edu.au. A summary of the findings will be made available to participants at the end of November 2008 at: http://www.psychology.murdoch.edu.au/hope_recovery.html

4. Reconnecting through reconneXion: reconneXion is a service that provides a specialist psychology treatment service for adults, young people and children who are experiencing anxiety disorders, depression and tranquilliser dependency. It has revamped and updated the content on its website to allow for easier navigation to enable users to find information quickly. The website content will be constantly monitored and updated. reconneXion is inviting you to visit their new website: http://www.reconnexion.org.au and provide any feedback on whether or not you think reconneXion has achieved its key aims.